Tourist Attractions In France La Palmyre Zoo

Loving France

It is no secret to anyone who has
been following me that I am completely in love with France. Whether it is the countryside, the seaside or
the city, I always find something in this country that makes me want to see
more of it and love it with more fervour.

I really enjoy travelling in France,
discovering new places and new attractions for my little ones. I discovered that here children’s attractions
are more than just Disneyland Paris or any other themed park. Here most castles –and believe me, there are
more than you could visit everyday during a year- are also child friendly,
offering activities and information that educate while entertaining your
children.

La Palmyre Zoo

La Palmyre Zoo

A French Zoo

Looking for entertaining and
educative attractions, my latest discovery has been a Zoo located in the heart
of the wild Côte de Beauté and the beaches of the Charente Maritime, not far
from one of my favourite holidays destinations in the Atlantic coast, Royan; it
is one of the best known zoos in Europe: The
Palmyre Zoo.

The Palmyre zoo houses around
1600 animals from all over the world, all living comfortably in the same
environment. And to prove the success of
the Palmyre zoo as a zoological park every year this zoo registers between 200
and 300 births, an astoundingly successful birth rate for a zoo.

Zoos, including La Palmyre, play an active role in the conservation of endangered species. The Zoo de La Palmyre has a special interest in several in situ conservation programs. Most of them involve primates, both because these constitute 27% of the animals at the zoo and because they are among the most endangered animals in the wild.

Some Of The Animals At The Palmyre Zoo In France

The Caribbean flamingo colony by the zoo entrance, includes more than 90 specimens.

Zebras feed for around 20 hours a day.

In the zoo, sea lions eat part of their food during their show and the rest at the end of it. Their keepers hand out 2–12kg of herrings, mackerels and sprats every day.

Tigers have lost more than 90% of their territory over the last 100 years.

The Palmyre Zoo engagement

ZOO de la Palmyre: The back in the wild programReturning animals to their natural environment is a way of re-establishing or strengthening wild populations. La Palmyre Zoo has collaborated with other zoos in two such projects. The first project involved golden lion tamarins in Brazil.

What Makes The Palmyre Zoo Special

Apart from housing more than 112 species in a park that covers 18 hectares of land, The Palmyre zoo is one of the most renowned zoos in France and Europe because of its active engagement with animal life.

This French zoo plays an important role in saving those species risking extinction through active participation in 37 European programs. The Palmyre zoo also works towards the reintroduction of animal life back to their natural environment and collaborates with donations to keep programs in their native countries working towards saving their animal life.

Visiting the Palmyre Zoo

If you are visiting the Palmyre Zoo, you must at least, spare at 4 hours for your visit. We spent 8 hours there which included the zoological park as well as a Sea lion show and a bird’s show. During the visit my little ones were able to hand feed the giraffes, elephants, ostriches, and zebras. They also spent a long time playing around with the dwarf goats and visiting the zoo's nursery.

Feeding The Animals At the Palmyre zoo

Baby giraffes measure 1.5–1.8m at birth, growing about 20cm in their first month. They start to eat solid food at around the age of 10 days in zoos

Learning About Zoos At The Palmyre Zoo

The origin of zoos

This was the first time that we learnt that zoos have their origins in ancient Egypt more than 3,500 years ago, where, we were told, the pharaohs Thoutmes III and Ramses II had collections of exotic or sacred animals. When Renaissance explorers brought back unknown animals from their trips, a fashion for keeping wild animals took seed among the royal courts of Europe. That is how from the 17th century private animal collections began to open to the general public and as early as 1793 one of the first zoological parks opened in Paris in the Jardin des Plantes.

The Palmyre zoo in particular was created in 1967 by Claude Caillé

These days, thankfully, things have changed and zoos not only show animals but they are assuming an active role in the protection of species threatened with extinction.

The Palmyre zoo in numbers: what do the animals eat?

Some of the Mammals you can see at the Palmyre zoo are :

Elephants

Gorillas

Chimpanzees

Giraffes

Jaguars

Lemurs

Polar bears

Sea Lions

Hippopotamus

Zebras

Rhinoceros

Siberian tigers

Leopards

Tigers

The Dwarf Goat's Area Children (and parents) Love!

My first time handling a goat!!

The Palmyre Zoo (a visit in French)

Opening times and prices

La
Palmyre Zoo is open all year : 9am–7pm from the1st of April to the
30th of September, and from 9am–6pm the rest of the year.

Sea lion and parrot shows only run from April to the end
of October

The
zoo is wheelchair accessible.

Parking
is free.

2010
prices are:

Adults €15

Children from 3 to 12 years old
€11

La Palmyre Zoo is home to 1,600 animals. It attracts 700,000–800,000 visitors a
year. It costs €16,000 a day to run.

How to get to the Palmyre Zoo

Other things to do and see in the area:

Skydiving in RoyanWhile visiting the resort town of Royan on the French Atlantic coast I made several friends from Royans school of parachuting. They invited me to see them skydiving and it was great to see them performing all sorts of acrobatics in the air...

Comments

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sending

jenblacksheep

8 years agofrom England

I remember going to that zoo when I was a kid, maybe 7 or 8. To be honest I don't remember a lot about it, but the name rang a bell and it reminded me of being on holiday there. I was never a big fan of zoos when I was younger but now I love them, mainly from a photographical point of view.

Lovely hub, thanx for the reminder!!!

AUTHOR

Wendy Iturrizaga

8 years agofrom France

Tia Miriam: That's so touching, it is great to see you around here. Kisses

Miriam V. Aguilo

8 years ago

Wow, Princessa! This place is awesome! Here in the USA I've only been to the Bronx zoo, The Central Park zoo and the zoo in Great Adventure amusement park. This place looks much bigger and has more animals than the zoos I've visited. Your pictures are beautiful and I can see your adorable kids and your mom in some of the pictures. Congratulations Princessa, you always make me feel very proud of being your aunt. Love, aunt Miriam

AUTHOR

Wendy Iturrizaga

8 years agofrom France

D.A.L: Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. We had a great day out at La Palmyre zoo, it was a very long day but we enjoyed every minute of it.

Dave

8 years agofrom Lancashire north west England

Princessa I enjoyed this trip to this wonderful zoo. Your photographs are beautiful and serve to enhance your hub.Thank you for sharing . Best wishes to you.

AUTHOR

Wendy Iturrizaga

8 years agofrom France

Pamela: Yes, it looks like in the past few years more and more zoological parks are being actively involved in animal welfare which is a good thing. I believe that reproduction in zoos was very rare until very recently that living standards have improved for animals living in captivity.

Harlan: Yes, you should. La Palmyre is about 1 hour and a half from La Rochelle and about Two hours from Bordeaux. The area is very interesting and worth staying at least a few days.

Harlan

8 years ago

I've been to Bordeaux and La Rochelle. Next time, I'll stop half way between for all the attractions including the zoo. Thanks.

Pamela Oglesby

8 years agofrom Sunny Florida

This zoo looks fantastic and it is great that it involved with the European programs that work on saving species that are becoming extinct.

AUTHOR

Wendy Iturrizaga

8 years agofrom France

Hi Jacob, I have been to many zoos in Europe and this one is really one of the best ones I have visited, plus if you like surfing you are just a step away from some good waves!

Jacob the french

8 years agofrom Grenoble, France

wow, interesting hub! im french and i didn't know about this zoo. could be fun to check out someday with the family. thank you princessa.

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